Samsung’s new patents reveal foldable smartphone and tablet designs

The U.S. Patent and Trade Office has published Samsung's patent on new foldable electronic devices. The patents including  a foldable smartphone, tab style design,  scrollable smartphone, and bendable smartphone design.

Originally filed in Korea in 2014, these new design innovations could someday replace the domination of square flat design for smartphone displays.

Samsung has been working on flexible displays for many years. According to Digital Trends, Samsung has revealed its first foldable phone prototype at CES 2014. The rumors said that Samsung's foldable device will make its debut in 2016.

In Venture Beat, the most frequently depicted design innovation is a handset that unfold to become a full-sized tablet. It is like a horizontal clamshell whose single fold opens in the same manner as a book or magazine. The device will form a smartphone when folded, and will form a tablet when unfolded.

However, it is not clear how the screens will be oriented on the folded form; either the device will fold with the two halves of the screen are touching when closed, or in the opposite configuration, where the screens both face outward.

Samsung's new patent filing also discusses another exciting new design, a scrollable smartphone. The new innovative design allows the phone to roll up and unroll like an ancient scroll.

Patenty Mobile described it as a rollable device.

A user may change the device's form  by simply grabbing the tab and rolling out the flexible display, or pressing a button or icon that is present on one side of the scroll which would open the scroll with the desired app ready to use once the device scrolled out.

For example, when the calendar icon on the scrolled device is pressed, the device will be unscrolled with its full display showing calendar app.

The flexible display in scroll style device may include an organic light emitting diode (OLED) or flexible LCD display that replaces a glass substrate in the display with a flexible plastic materials.

Samsung's new patent also includes a foldable smartphone design  called tab style design smartphone. The smartphone doesn't fold in half like the first foldable design, but it is folded off-center so as to leave a tab screen exposed on the left side that could display the users' favourite apps.

Just like the scrolled device, the tab style device will be unfolded when a user touches the app icon on the left side of the display.

The last design innovation on Samsung's patent involves a bendable smartphone. The design involves a smartphone that is folded by being bent. The smartphone may likely be bent at a specific degree preset by the users.